Displacement
by Amarie and the Inexplicable 3
Summary: Alice Gainsborough has been having problems. Not big problems, just minor stuff like amnesia. But as she discovers more about herself, a mystery unfolds...
1. reflections of a shattered life

Final Fantasy VII and all related names and characters are property of Square. 

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**Displacement** ~ by Amarië 

~part one~  
"reflections of a shattered life" 

Alice shook the rain out of her hair and placed her umbrella against the wall. There had been so much rain lately... She flopped down on her couch and closed her eyes, fighting off the dizziness. One switch had been wired to turn on all the appliances; she flipped it and found some relief in the light and noise. 

_It's happening again... _

Came in from a rainy Thursday on the avenue  
Thought I heard you talking softly  
I turned on the lights, the TV and the radio  
Still I can't escape the ghost of you

"Where? Where is that music coming from?" 

She had these spells... voices in her head, yet outside it... strange music... strange memories... and worst of all, _feelings_, emotions that rose unbidden in her heart. _I'm not schizophrenic, I'm not. It must just be something to do with repressed memories. Like my amnesia._

Her amnesia was something she tried never to think about, much less talk of. Up until about six months ago, her memory was a blank... but she was sure she'd been living here for a long time. Everyone said so. Not that she'd ever told anyone -- she had, although she wasn't sure how she knew it, a horror of doctor's offices, and had made up her mind never to tell anyone in case they insisted on her going for treatment. She was fine, really she was... 

_

What is happening to it all?  
Crazy some say  
Where is the life that I recognize?  
Gone away...

_

With a sudden quick movement she jumped up and opened the window. She leaned out into the rain, cold and refreshing. 

_

But I won't cry for yesterday  
There's an ordinary world  
somehow I have to find

_

There was nothing to stop her if she fell; the faint instinctive prickle of danger exhilarated her. She wanted to jump out and fly away into the wind and rain, (for she knew she _could_ fly; this at least was something she knew for certain.) but an unseen force held her within the room. Somewhere, somehow, there was a goal she must get to... 

_

And as I try to make my way   
to the ordinary world  
I will learn to survive...

_

But for now, her goal was to find out who she was. 

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author's notes: This is an experiment of mine -- get used to the short chapters, because that's what it'll be most of the time. It's a AU -- kind of. You'll see what I mean very soon. It's not really a songfic, because the song -- "Ordinary World" by Aurora -- is just for this chapter. 


	2. photographic memory

Final Fantasy VII and all related names and characters are property of Square. 

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**Displacement** ~ by Amarië 

~part two~  
"photographic memory" 

Morning dawned cold, grey and wet. Cursing her empty stomach, Alice rolled out of her warm bed and stumbled to the kitchen to get a bowl of cereal. "Thank God it's Saturday," she moaned, getting back into bed with her breakfast, "because I feel terrible. Better stay home today. Don't go out." 

She spent the morning sleeping fitfully and watching television. Around one o' clock, her friend Tina (at least she thought Tina was her friend; she could have been a mortal enemy for all she knew) knocked on the door. 

"I brought you some cookies," she said, placing a lumpy package on the kitchen counter. Alice was suitably grateful, made small talk, and then Tina left. When she was gone, Alice ate three cookies and went back to sleep. Afterwards, she would always say it had been the cookies... 

_ She was sitting in her own room with Tina, looking at stacks of old photos. But though they had Alice in them, the people with her were people she'd never seen, save Tina herself, in a skimpy outfit Alice would never have suspected her of. A massive black man, carrying a tiny girl on his shoulders... A teenage girl sticking her tongue out at a tough-looking man in a flight jacket... a mechanical cat... a flame-red animal of indeterminate species... She'd never met them, never spoken to them; but there she was, playing with the child, hugging the animal. Tina kept up a constant stream of comment, which she tuned out. Something about these images screamed at her, _You've lost them! You've got to get them back! Remember! Remember!_ She shut the insistent voices out of her mind. _

She shuffled through another stack, and at the bottom found another new face; a blond, spiky-haired young man, rather blurry. He must have been the one behind the camera most of the time... As she looked at it, the dizziness crept up on her again; his face was important, and she should know it, but she couldn't remember... 

It's too hard! I can't! I can't remember! Don't show it to me! 

_Tina looked up, alarmed, and caught her as she fell screaming from the chair. Her world went black with little fireworks, like the sky on a holiday night... then completely dark._

When she woke up, she was lying under the coffee table. 

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author's notes: Are you starting to see what's going on? Like I said before, this is a bit of an experiment, so reviews telling me how it is are needed desperately. 


	3. mindless entertainment

Final Fantasy VII and all related names and characters are property of Square. 

------------------------------------------------- 

**Displacement** ~ by Amarië 

~part three~  
"mindless entertainment" 

Alice flicked through channels with the remote. _Zap._ The Gold Something-or-Other amusement park was offering a special deal for the upcoming holiday... _Zap._ The president of some big conglomerate had died; at his funeral, a crowd of bored mourners stood around his newly rich and even more bored son... _Zap._ A children's show; a dragon was defeated with the power of love... _Zap._ A heavily-made-up newswoman reported on the tragic death of Iris Gainsborough, who had died trying to stop a homicidal religious maniac from murdering two children... _Zap._ Alice turned the TV off and tossed the remote onto the nearest chair. 

_Strange... that dead girl on the news, Iris, she had the same last name... ah, probably a coincidence. I wonder if that maniac is still at large? _

.......... 

Time for dinner, I think. Cold pizza again... 

Funny, that feeling like everything on the planet is trying to tell you something and you're just too dense to get it, huh? 

Alice never felt that way. 

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author's notes: Next chapter sees the introduction of a third character. As always, review me! 


	4. in which refreshments are served

Final Fantasy VII and all related names and characters are property of Square. 

------------------------------------------------- 

**Displacement** ~ by Amarië 

~part four~  
"in which refreshments are served" 

The doorbell rang. Alice ignored it. _If it's Tina, she'll let herself in eventually, the lazy creature... if it's anyone else then I don't know who they are._ It rang again. And again. And again. Alice buried her nose in her book and turned up the music a bit louder, but when the rings culminated with a prolonged buzz that made her head spin, she stomped over to press the buzzer. _That better not be Tina, or she'll get an earful..._

Her apartment was the first at the top of the stairs, so she heard the knock in only a few seconds. Looking through the peephole, (one can't be too careful these days) she saw a tall man wearing a black coat, hat and sunglasses, so that his only distinguishing feature was a long silver ponytail. Which in itself was quite weird enough for Alice. She pondered while he knocked, then decided that her life was so boring she didn't care what happened now, and opened the door. 

"Hello. Are you some kind of salesman or something? Because if you are --" 

The tall man pushed past her hastily and slammed the door. Alice gasped and shrunk back, but he made no further move. 

"Hey!" she said, pulling herself together. "I'll have you know that's my only door and it's nearly broken already! And what are you doing in my apartment anyway? I don't remember inviting you in!" 

He sighed. "Forgive me, but I needed to get out of sight." A cold feeling crept up Alice's back. She ignored it. "I was told you could help me." 

"I have no idea how I can help you, and I'd kick you out if I wasn't supremely bored. But since I am, come in and have some tea." 

He looked puzzled, as far as Alice could make out with those sunglasses in the way, but seemed to take this in stride. "Certainly," he said, taking off the hat and glasses, "and perhaps I can tell you about what I wanted your help for." 

Alice made tea while he attempted to stuff the coat and hat into her overcrowded coat closet. By the time she took out the cookies, he had managed to wedge the door shut, a feat which she had thought possible only for the initiate. 

"Tamed the coat closet?" she said, pouring a cup for herself (drop of milk, no sugar) and one for her guest (straight, wedge of lemon). "Then come sit down and you can tell me what the heck you're doing here." 

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author's notes: Tea! I love tea. Just today I had a cup of tea, but it was too hot so I burnt my tongue. To make up for it I ate a big piece of chocolate cake. Wait, am I supposed to be talking about the story? Oh, fine. I'm still undecided on whether to make this AerithxCloud or AerithxSephiroth. There's still time for anyone who wants to put in a plea for one or the other! 


	5. the blind leading the blind

Final Fantasy VII and all related names and characters are property of Square. 

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**Displacement** ~ by Amarië 

~part five~ "the blind leading the blind"  


"So, you can start by telling me your name." 

The silver-haired man hesitated, and Alice got the distinct impression that he was trying to recall exactly what his name was. 

"...Simon, I think." Not nearly an impressive enough name, she thought. Doesn't really suit him. But who can account for taste? I might make a strange choice for my own name too. 

The newly christened Simon began to nervously arrange the cookies into neat concentric circles on the plate. Alice looked at him strangely, and he stopped. "Shall I begin now?" he asked. 

"Go ahead." 

"First you should know that the police are looking for me." He paused, but Alice didn't look at all surprised. "They want to question me in connection to the death of Iris Gainsborough." Now she started, but he went on. "Apparently they suspect I'm the religious maniac who killed those six people last Thursday." 

"And are you?" 

"I don't know. I've been having bouts of memory loss lately, and they correspond to the times the killer was spotted -- putting up posters, shouting mantras in the streets, and all that -- and of course killing people. The thing is that nobody who saw him can remember what he looked like. If they could, it'd be pretty obvious" -- he gestured to the ponytail -- "whether or not it was me." 

"And what does this have to do with me?" asked Alice, who was now feeling a tad uncomfortable. 

"A friend of mine who works at city hall has been keeping me informed. He said you were an old friend of his and that you'd be able to help me remember what happened in the periods of time I've lost. His name is Vincent -- Vincent Valentine." 

Alice looked at him blankly. "I don't know any such person! And I have no idea how I could help you, in fact, I have amnesia myself --" A thought occurred to her. Before Simon, who was looking rather crushed, could say anything, she yelled, "Wait there a moment!" and jumped up and opened the closet. She rummaged around in its depths, causing several small avalanches of tightly-packed stuff, and pulled out a battered shoebox. "Tina left this last time she came! No, wait... that was a dream, wasn't it? Oh well." 

She pulled out a group photo and handed it to Simon. "Is he in there?" 

"Yes, that's him, the one in the red cape. But you said you didn't know him?" 

"I don't remember these pictures either. I have amnesia up until about six months ago -- I've lost all the rest of my life." 

"Well," he said, "we have a very interesting problem here, don't we?" 

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author's notes: Here's chapter five... I can't change my settings because of server problems or something... so I will take the opportunity to rant... WHO THE HELL ADDED A "3" TO THE END OF MY NAME? AARGH!!! They better get the site working soon... because I'll be REALLY annoyed if I have to keep this "3". 


	6. the past invades the kitchen cupboards

Final Fantasy VII and all related names and characters are property of Square. 

------------------------------------------------- 

**Displacement** ~ by Amarië 

~part six~  
"the past invades the kitchen cupboards" 

Alice grudgingly allowed Simon to sleep on her couch that night -- not that there was much of a choice, as he had fallen asleep at what she considered the early hour of two in the morning and could not be raised. They had spent the evening and most of the night looking at her photos and talking over their odd memory loss. Despite Alice's hopeful feeling, they had gotten nowhere in the search for further information. 

It was with slight irritation that she woke to find him making toast and eggs and reading the paper in her kitchen. Rolling out of bed and padding sleepily over to the table, she complained, "You're really not much of a mysterious stranger." 

He raised an eyebrow, but made no comment. Alice ate her toast grumpily and with much loud crunching, got dressed, and emerged from the bathroom looking cleaner and much more alert. Not a moment too soon, either, as she was confronted with the sight of three more people coming in through the door. 

"What is this, a fricking open house?" She was, however, in no better a mood. "Before you make yourselves at home, perhaps you can tell me what you're doing here?" 

The foremost of the three had just disentangled herself from a long scarf, and now hung it on a convenient umbrella-stand. Taking no notice of the decidedly acerbic tone employed by the hostess, she cheerily extended a hand, saying, "Hi, I'm Yuffie! Nice to meet you!" 

Alice realized with a shock that this was the teenaged girl from the photos. She was perhaps a year older, but was very much the same. Slightly bewildered, she took the hand, shook, and muttered something polite in return. "Sorry for bursting in on you like this, but we all met outside your door and we had to talk a bit before we went in. Of course we're all here for the same reason, which is to say that we all wanted to get here so..." Alice was unable to keep up with her breathtaking speed of diction and instead examined the two other visitors. 

They were the small girl she had seen in a few of the pictures and a bald man who stubbornly stuck to his sunglasses in spite of the dim lighting in the hall. Alice had barely had time to process these facts before she felt herself being swept along in a tide of new faces into the kitchen. 

The first thing she saw was Yuffie going through her cupboards. "I am so so sooo hungry!" she announced to the world, pulling out a packet of cookies. "So hungry I could eat an elephant!" She took a jar of pickles. "Don't you keep any food here?" She finished her raid by appropriating a can of beans, a banana, a leftover slice of pizza, and the only utensil in evidence -- a large spoon. So complete was Alice's confusion that she didn't even protest at the practical emptying of her pantry; instead, she collapsed into a chair and stared up at the rest of the visitors. 

"What..." she managed weakly, but the child, obviously the one in control, interrupted with, "We're sorry to disturb you like this, but we have some really important things we've gotta tell you. Don't worry, we can explain what's going on." She consulted a slip of paper pinned to her sleeve. "Oh, an' I have to tell you that..." -- she squinted at the small writing -- "you knew Iris. I don't know what that means." 

"Neither do I," said Alice. "But let's just sit down and you all can explain yourselves." 

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author's notes: This finishes the chapters I had already written before posting the first one (I wrote the first through sixth chapters over the course of one night) so from now on updates may be a little slower, especially as I'm starting school soon and I seem to be getting new ideas all the time, ideas that just demand to be written down, and they've been taking up a lot of my writing time lately, distracting me from my already-started stories. But fear not, I will continue! 


End file.
